Batman Begins – Review

Batman Begins bases its entire entertainment philosophy on this statement, and to good effect. By melding contributory emotion to interactive gameplay EA and Warner Interactive offer both an ambitious and original mechanic to today’s gamers. Throughout the game, Batman’s successful influence upon environmental elements invokes panic, fear, and even terror into Gotham City’s lowest common denominators.

So what’s the direct result of this emotional reaction? Previously formidable criminals, henchmen, and generic goons drop their weapons, bicker amongst themselves, and cower pathetically from certain doom. Batman is, after all, just a man; he’s not made of steel, or able to fly, shoot webs, or laser bolts. Challenging foes imbued with malicious intent and superior numbers will surely only result in the caped crusader’s premature demise. Therefore, relying on the strengths promoted by an almost mythical reputation, Batman’s true superpowers are drawn from the enveloping darkness that follows him, and the ability to strike fear into the hearts of those who face him.

Spoiler Alert: Skip the next paragraph if ignorance concerning the movie’s plotline is valued.

After training in the Himalayas with Ra’s Al Ghul, ninja leader of the League of Shadows, Wayne returns to Gotham City to find it overrun by crime and corruption. Intent on saving the decaying city from its criminal infestation, Wayne dons the mantle of Batman and begins the cleansing hunt. Following the narrative foundations set down by the movie, Batman Begins sees Bruce Wayne (Batman) attempting to prevent the catastrophic release of a maddening chemical agent upon Gotham’s unsuspecting populace. Imbalanced Dr. Jonathan ‘The Scarecrow’ Crane, who works with the criminally insane at Gotham’s infamous Arkham Asylum, and mafia boss and drug smuggler, Carmine Falcone are both somehow connected to the perilous agent soon to be cast against the city. Rachel Dawes, a member of Gotham’s District Attorney’s office (and one-time love interest of Wayne) is trying to connect Crane directly while Batman pursues Falcone and knowledge concerning his latest drug shipment. But as the net tightens it soon becomes apparent that a knowing and nefarious force beyond expectation stands behind all the players in the game.

In terms of aesthetic and atmosphere, Batman Begins successfully replicates the stark and steely tones achieved throughout the movie. From the opening cinematic sequence, players are in little doubt concerning their surroundings. Gotham is gritty and unforgiving; it’s buildings, streets, and rooftops covered in grime and eerily bathed in discomforting hues. However, though the game certainly promotes an air of dirty dishevelment through its strong colour palette, there’s an odd lack of depth to the on-screen shadows.

Batman should be a tangible part of his environment; unseen by those around him until the last possible moment—in the same way Sam Fisher exists within the Splinter Cell universe. But here, Batman moves through levels that never swallow or hide him, and approaches dangerous situations where he’s lit too obviously to evoke a true sense of belief. That’s not to say that enemies see what we see. Bad guys are relatively blind to Batman’s ominous presence as he shimmies stealthily across overhead pipes, or hangs patiently and silently from chandeliers and dangling chains. Sudden movements or noise will incur a wave of hot lead, though, so the A.I. does connect directly to rushed or irrational player decisions, which is thankful considering the general inability of enemies to look up.

Fixed neck positions aside, it’s the moves Batman is capable of during his more stealthy moments that allow for forgiveness concerning the lack of considered shadow play. While concealed from enemies, he can observe his environment through a player-prompting on-screen directional cursor. This cursor indicates what, if anything, can be manipulated from Batman’s current position to directly influence the fear factors of occupants in the surrounding area. For example, while traversing an underground car park via its pipe systems and air-conditioning units, Batman’s progress is blocked by a group of gun-toting thugs that are guarding the only accessible doorway.

Trying to take the guards face on only amounts to instant and ceremonious death for Gotham’s protector, so the player is tasked with finding an alternate route. While hanging beneath the pipes, the on-screen prompt highlights a small scaffolding rig on one side of the car park. A well-placed shot with the Baterang topples the weak scaffold support and sends debris savagely spilling across the floor. This unforeseen event instantly affects the thugs, and those who are armed drop their weapons. Now with odds even, and the on-screen ‘reputation’ and ‘fear’ meters elevated to indicate panic, Batman can drop into the action and cast the meters even further forward by way of his shocking arrival.

Fighting mechanics in the game are fairly straightforward, with simple one-button assignments for punching and kicking combinations. When an opponent’s energy bar is sufficiently reduced an on-screen indicator prompts the player to hit a third button, which executes a finishing flurry of varying magnitude and visual effect. Batman can also adopt a stealth stance during the game in order to approach adversaries from behind and perform either silent attacks, amounting to various sweeping moves that incapacitate with absolute efficiency, or grab and interrogate to garner relevant mission related information.

While observing and manipulating scenes from overhead pipes or hanging chains, etc., impressive finishing moves can be instigated when a foe passes directly beneath Batman’s position. Swiftly rappelling from a heightened position and plucking an enemy from the floor beneath also inspires waves of fear in those left looking for their suddenly missing buddy.

And it’s here, in the animated representations of terror on the faces of Batman’s enemies, where the game draws you in. Extreme care and attention to detail has obviously been invested in making absolutely sure the game’s fear angle inspires nods of appreciation from the player as it inspires cries of panic from its characters. Successfully interacting with the environment often triggers mini cut scenes involving the characters therein, and the expressions of impending doom are almost tangible by their presence. These reactions make the need to influence environmental details a pleasurable search for progression rather than a laborious gameplay chore.

However, the searching itself is slightly less inspiring in its implementation. The on-screen cursor system that highlights interactive points all but spoon-feeds locations to the player, removing the need—whether you crave it or not—to actually peruse surroundings for things to influence. As it is, every area is navigated swiftly and points of interest are instantly highlighted by the cursor. While this assures constant movement through the narrative thread and avoids clumsy, ill-fitting bouts of backtracking frustration, the game perhaps would have benefited by allowing players the freedom to more closely scrutinise their environment to find and formulate a solution for progression.

As with most movie-licensed videogames, Batman Begins further boosts its marketplace credibility through an enviable cast list. The stars truly all turned out in force, and are duly represented by Christian Bale as the caped crusader, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, and Michael Caine as Batman’s faithful aide Alfred. Not to be outdone by the good guys, the game’s evil contingent arrive for roll call in the form of Tom Wilkinson as Falcone, and Cillian Murphy as Dr. Crane. If that weren’t enough star power to thrust the game forward, there are also impressive turns from Liam Neeson as Batman’s Himalayan mentor, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, an inventor for Wayne Corp’s Applied Sciences Division and creator of the clunky but cool Batmobile.

Batman Begins’ third-person character perspective holds the majority of the game’s level quota, but the aforementioned Batmobile makes sporadic—but welcome—appearances by way of against-the-clock racing levels. Usually requiring the player to travel at breakneck speeds between point-A and point-B, Batman is tasked with reaching a connecting road bridge into Gotham before it’s raised and cuts off his entrance. Also, during a later sequence, the Batmobile is used again to transport a fear-infected Rachel back to the Batcave and a prepared antidote. Along these linear racing levels the Batmobile can collect turbo-nitrous canisters to increase top speed, and also to assist it ramming enemy vehicles off the street or dodge pursuing police units. Overall, the inclusion of the Batmobile does smack a little of shoehorned marketing, but the levels do provide a welcome, throwaway break from the core gameplay.

The game’s extra features arrive as levels are passed, and amount to a variety of Bat-bonuses. A five-part documentary covers the game in all its production guises, from cast, to writers, filmmakers, and programmers; all the movie snippets proceeding and succeeding each level are unlocked and available for replay; the Batmobile levels are also opened and available as time-attack mini-games. Perhaps of most novelty to Batman fans is the ability to replay the entire game in a selection of classic Batman costumes—even the camp Adam West television version is in attendance. Specific detail wise, all of the character dialogue can be subtitled, as can Bale’s narration over the movie’s cinematic sequences. In terms of ‘girl gamer factor’ Batman Begins is a little light in the loafers. The only female character in the game exists through Rachel Dawes, and she seems to spend most of her time screaming…though she does get a bit handy with a stun gun at one point.

Licensed videogames arriving as little more than sideshow accompaniment for major Hollywood movie releases are often tarred, quite correctly, with the critical brush of contempt. The mainstream marketing monster driving this dross forward generally cares not about the final product, but rather only whether it further boosts the revenue pile amassed by that which it is designed to complement(?). It’s therefore all the more refreshing to see a publishing and development team so intent on accomplishing a true gaming extension of the inspiration material. To this end, EA and Warner Interactive should be suitably proud of Batman Begins for its successes, and even its near misses—for there are a few. But, perhaps more importantly, they should rest assured that Batman Begins contains no detracting failures within a package that, like its Hollywood big brother, admirably revives and redefines the Batman franchise.

Review by Stevie